Heating device



1959 H. J. WILLIAMS, JR 2,911,512

HEATING DEVICE Filed March 20, 1958 fdee Patented Nov. 3, 1959 Y 7 HEATING DEVICE I Herald 3. Williams, Jr., Austin, Minn.

Application March 20, 1958, Serial No. 722,713

'z-onims. (Cl. 219-38 7 'for houses and tne like.

According to present building practices, heating systerms for buildings, such as homes, require the installation of many pipes and other expensive equipment for conveying hot Water or otherheating mediums to the radiators.

However, I have found that the amount of equipment which is necessary for successfully heating homes can be materially decreased. and therefore the actual cost of the installed heating system can be reduced to levels previously thought to be impossible.

. tion made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to thesarne or similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. l is a vertical section view through a portion of a building and showing a portion of the complete insulation of the heating apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation view, partly broken away, of one of the radiant heating panels;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectionview taken through the panel on a vertical plane as indicated substantially at 33 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section View of a portion of the apparatus connected with the heating panel; and

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the electrical connections for a typical installation of the heating system.

One form of the present invention is shown in the drawings and is described herein. A portion of. the entire heating system is shown in a typical installation in Fig. 1. The building to be heated is indicated in general by numeral and has generally conventional walls 11 and floors 12 defining the spaces in the building which need to be heated. The heating apparatus, comprising the present invention is shown installed for heating the spaces. In each of the rooms is a radiant heating panel or radiator 13 which may be constructed in one or more sections. Each of the radiant heating panels 13 has only a single fluid-carrying medium such as pipe 14 connected to the liquid-confining chamber 15 thereof. A single manifold pipe 15 connects all of the pipes 14 together and also connects the pipes 14 to an expansion tank 16 which may be located in any suitable location in the building. The expansion tank 16 is connected to a source of water through the pipe 17 and the flow through the pipe 17 may be controlled by a valve 18. The water in the chamber of the radiant panel 13 is heated by an elongated rod-type electric heating device, indicated in general by the numeral 19, which extends longitudinally through the heating panel. Because the supply of heat for the water is confined Within the chamber of the heating panel, no continuous flow of the water through the chamber of the panel is necessary and therefore only a single fluid-carrying medium or pipe is necessary between the expansion tank and any of the radiant heating panels.

It should be understood that in the installation shown in Fig. 1, only two panels are installed in the adjacent rooms, but it should be understood that a number of other panels may be installed in other rooms and connected onto the end portion 15a of the manifold pipe 15.

More specifically with regard to the construction of the heating panels or radiators 13, it will be noted that the particular type shown are baseboard installations to benormally installed in a room on the wall llthereof and adjacent the floor. The radiant heating panel 13 hasa jacket 2t defining the liquid-confining chamber 20a and it will be noted that the front and rear walls 21 and 22 respectively are closely spaced with respect to each other. The jacket 2% has a number of fins 23 extending from the rear Wall 22 thereof toward the building wall 11 to permit air to pass upwardly therebetween. The panel has openings 24 at the top thereof to permit outupper portion of the panel to the wall.

The end walls 23 of the panel are drilled and tapped at 29. to receive adapters 3t) and 31 for mounting the rod-type heating device 19 in the chamber 20a.

The adapter 30 receives the heating device 19 through the central opening 32 thereof andthe outer end of adapter -39 is threaded at 33 to receivea packing nut 34 thereon,

which also encompasses the heating device 19 and makes provision for insertion of liquid-sealing packing material 35 at the inner end portion 36 thereof.

The adapter 36 has an inner annular opening 37 somewhat bigger than the heating device 19 to permit liquid flow therethrough. Adapter 34 has a transversely oriented tapped aperture 38 therethrough for connection with the pipe 14.

The adapter 31 is substantially identical to the adapter 30 except that the transverse aperture 38 is. omitted.

The rod-type heating device 19 has resistance-type heating elements or wires (not shown) which are embedded in an electrical insulating medium 39 which is surrounded by a copper water-sealing jacket 40 for transmitting the heat to the water which engages the outer surface thereof. The heating device 19 has conductor rod portions 41 projecting outwardly of the ends thereof. The rod portions 41 are threaded to receive nuts 42,, between which is clamped a conductor fitting 43 which is electrically connected to the end of the wire 44.

The rod portions 41 define the terminals, indicated by the numerals 41a and 41b in Fig. 5 which shows in block form, the radiant panels 13. The terminals 41a are connected by Wire 44a to one side of the electrical source indicated by the terminal 45. The other terminals 41b are connected by conductors 44b in series relation through the high temperature limit control devices 46 and the thermostat 47 to the other side of the power source at the terminal 48.

The high temperature limit control devices 46 have heat-sensing elements 49 in the chamber 213a and the heat-sensing elements 49 are enclosed in a casing 50. The radiant panels 13 are also provided with automatic air vents 51 which are of standard construction and operation in this type of hot water heating devices.

In operation, the energization of the electric heating devices 19 is controlled by operation of the thermostat 47 in one of the spaces of the house. When the temperature goes below a predetermined level, the thermostat operates to close the circuit to the heating devices 19, whereupon the electricity is applied to the heating device to cause heating of the body portion and for transmitting heat to the water in the chamber 20a. The water which is in direct contact with the heating device will heat rapidly and the heat will be transmitted through the shell 20 to be radiated into the room. When the spaces have been adequately heated, the thermostat will open the electrical circuit and the electric heating devices 19 will be deenergized. 7

If the temperature of the water in any one of the panels 13 exceeds the predetermined limit, the high temperature limit control device 46 will operate to open the electrical circuit to that particular heating device 19. It will be particularly noted that there is no flow of liquid or water through the chamber 20a of the panel 13 and there is only a very limited amount of flow through the pipes 14 to allow for expansion and contraction of the water as the same is heated and cooled.

It will therefore be seen that I have provided a new and novel building heating apparatus which is extremely simple to install and which requires only an absolute minimum of equipment and time for installation.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, detail, arrangement and proportion of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which consists of the matter described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for heating buildings, comprising a plurality of liquid-enclosing, radiators having upper and lower portions and being disposed in the spaces of the building to be heated, a source of liquid, an expansion tank for containing a supply of the liquid, means connecting the source to the tank, each radiator having only a single fluid-carrying medium connected thereto to permit inflow and outflow of the liquid, means connecting said mediums to the expansion tank, each of the radiators having an electric heating device in the lower portion thereof and immersed in the liquid for heating the liquid, and control means supplying electrical energy to said device and said control means including a high temperature limit control with a sensing portion in temperaturesensing relation with the liquid to prevent the liquid temperatures from exceeding a predeterminedlevel.

2. Apparatus for heating buildings, comprising a plurality of elongate radiant heating panels in the spaces of the building to be heated, and each of the panels having an elongate liquid-confining chamber with upper and lower portions, a source of liquid, an expansion tank for containing a supply of the liquid, means connecting the source to the tank, each of the panels having only a single fluid-carrying medium connected to the chamber thereof to permit inflow and outflow of the liquid, means connecting the mediums to the expansion tank, and each of the heating panels having an elongated rod-type electrical heating device in the lower portion of the chamber and immersed in the liquid for heating the liquid, said device having opposite end portions projecting to the exterior of the panel, one of said end portions extending through the fluidcarrying medium and control means supplying electrical energy to said device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,067,647 Fox July 15, 1913 2,455,688 Malickson Dec. 7, 1948 2,502,551 Appell Apr. 4, 1950 

